Greening the Empire State Building

Yesterday I visited the Empire State Building and while waiting in the extremely long lines (day after Christmas) I got to read about the sustainability and energy efficiency project that was set up throughout the building over the past few years. It's a project that, if it works, will be expanded to many of the buildings in New York City (and if other cities are smart around the entire world). For the most part there's nothing scientifically ground-breaking about the project. It just uses modern technology to set up a more efficient and intelligent use of power. I'll outline the parts of the project. I think it's a pretty amazing and awesome project.

All the windows were rebuilt (using most of the original glass in the new windows) by adding thin films and a gaseous mixture between the two panes of glass for each window to reduce heat loss and gain. Sensors and new light control systems were installed to reduce power usage for lights and outlets in areas that aren't occupied. "Radiative barriers" were installed behind all radiators to make sure no or little heat would be lost to the outside. Air handling units (big fans as far as I can tell) were replaced with newer and fewer ones to handle air flow more efficiently. Chillers (air conditioners) were updated by replacing the internals with up to date parts but leaving the shells making cooling more efficient and doing some reuse in the process. A monitoring program was set up so tenants could see their power consumption and that of others to better manage how they use power. Sensors to measure CO2 concentrations were installed to limit the amount of fresh air brought in from outside to a (healthy) minimum. And finally new monitors, sensors, and controls were installed all throughout the building allowing for easier and faster control of heating, cooling, and electric usage.

Overall, the project reduces total energy usage by 38%, reduce costs by $4.4 million annually, and reduce carbon emissions by 105,000 metric tons over the next 15 years. The cost for the project was about $20 million. Imagine the savings in energy, money, and carbon emission if this was done to every large building in NYC, or, even better, to every large building in the world. Hopefully this project convinces others to do the same.

Quantum Space Theory

So over the summer I ran into an article about a book called Sex on the Moon about a man named Thad Roberts who, while working at NASA, took/stole contaminated moon rocks to sell. I haven't read the book, nor did I really read the article. But I did glance that Thad had worked on a new theory of everything (TOE) while in jail. I checked out the website (www.einsteinsintuition.com) and watched the couple of videos summarizing the theory called quantum space theory (qst). The videos were a good introduction, but they weren't detailed enough to give a full picture and so I wasn't convinced. I had a short (2-3 comments each) back and forth with Thad and then asked him to send me a in work copy of the book he's working on to describe the theory. He sent it to me, as it seems he'll do for anyone that is interested in the theory. It sat in my email for some months until a couple months ago when I decided to finally start going through the book. Now, the book is meant for the layman, partially because of the base idea behind the theory and partially because the mathematics of the theory hasn't been completed yet. (But there were some parts that to me seemed beyond the understanding of most people.) The base idea is that the laws of the universe should be able to be conceptually and intuitively understood by just about anyone. (It's the reason the website and book are called Einstein's Intuition. Einstein developed General Relativity because he wanted to describe gravity in a way that could be easily understood by all. He also wanted to extend that idea to the other areas of physics, but got caught up in a few snags in his theories.) Now, many of you more scientifically minded individuals are probably thinking to yourselves that a theory isn't valid unless it can be described mathematically. You won't even be convinced unless the theory has a mathematical representation. Conceptual pictures are basically gibberish to you. Well, I respectably disagree. A picture's worth a thousand words and once you can think up an idea that is consistent and can be conceptually pictured, the mathematics is guaranteed to be there. It's just a matter of time. So to me getting a conceptual picture is much more important. (It's the reason I don't like quantum physics. Physics is yet to come up with a consistent conceptual picture of quantum physics. Except for one that was forgotten and is used by qst.) Anyway, as I went through the book I became more and more convinced that it's true. Even beyond the fact that it's conceptually complete the theory is also able to explain/solve dark matter, dark energy, black holes, quantum physics, the hierarchy problem, etc.. I'll summarize the basics of the theory and would love to have a discussion on it.

Quantum space theory starts with only a few assumptions about the structure of the universe. Space, as we know it, is quantized. There are volume quanta (each one is one Planck volume) and they make up the space that we experience. So when one travels some distance they are actually traveling a whole number value of space quanta. The normal 3 dimensions of space are quantized amounts of space quanta. Each space quanta, since it is a volume, has its own 3 dimensions called intraspatial space. We cannot directly interact with these intraspatial dimensions, but they do have an impact on properties of particles, such as spin. These quanta move around and interact, much like the atoms of a gas. In fact, a lot of thermodynamics will most likely be used to formulate qst. The quanta must move in something and so there is a continuous space that is called superspace (also has 3 dimensions). Once again, we do not directly interact with superspace, but it has an impact on certain events, such as quantum tunneling. So far that gives us 9 spatial dimensions. It's fairly simple to picture this model, just as it's fairly simple to picture gas molecules moving about in a vacuum.

For things to happen in this model there has to be time. Qst not only quantizes space, but it also quantizes time. Each space quantum has an inherent oscillation. (Whether the quantum is actually oscillating I'm not quite sure. It may be more like a property of the quantum.) Each full oscillation represents one time quantum. This is the time that we experience, but instead of it being continuous as is currently assumed time is quantized into time quanta (each one is one planck time). Now, because the space quanta cannot themselves experience their own time quanta there must be another time dimension through which space quanta can move about and interact. This time dimension is continuous and is called supertime. We cannot interact with supertime, but it is required for space quanta to be active. So that, for the most part, gives us the complete structure of qst. 11 dimensions total (similar to string theory for a very interesting reason that I won't go into). 9 spatial dimensions and 2 temporal. Now I'll go into some of the more important parts of the theory, such as where matter comes from.

In qst, space quanta have energy. This energy doesn't directly affect the oscillations that represent time quanta, but it does affect how the space quanta move around and interact. Like I said before space quanta are very similar to gas particles in a vacuum. The more energy they have the faster they move about and the more energetic the collisions between quanta are. Space quanta like to stick together, in a similar way to why water droplets stick together. The higher the volume to surface area ratio the stronger the total body is. But because space quanta have energy they won't always stick together. They can transfer energy between each other during a collision (similar to a non-elastic collision), but if the total energy is too high the quanta will bounce off of each other. When the energy is low enough the quanta will stick together. This process can continue as long as the energy is low enough. Through this process matter forms. A particle (quark, electron, neutrino) is an agglomeration of space quanta. (Note that this has an interesting link to the reionization phase of the universe. Temperature/energy of the universe drops to a low enough point for matter to begin to form from energy.)

Just to expand a bit on the matter idea, let me add another premise in qst. When two quanta collide they, in a sense, skip one time quantum. Now let's take this to the extreme. Matter is an agglomeration of space quanta. The quanta that make up the particle are effectively joined together. They are constantly colliding. So there is no time within a particle. Instead the entire particle acts like one big space quantum with one time quanta oscillation instead of many. Let's make the particle very, very big, made up of an extremely large amount of space quanta. What do we get? We get a large region of space within which time does not pass. What is this? It's a black hole. As one gets closer and closer to the center of a black hole time passes slower and slower. Current models predict that at the center time stops, but it's also possible time stops beyond the event horizon since we can't really see anything beyond that point. So in qst a black hole is just one very large particle. Pretty cool!

That's the basics of qst. I can go more in-depth and explain how things like the four forces, quantum physics, dark energy, etc. come about through qst, but I'll only do so by request. I sincerely suggest you check out the website and see if you can get a pre-print copy of the book. It's worth a read.

First Time

So I've never done a blog before, but I figured since I annoy the hell out of my friends (and people on forums every now and then) I'd just get my opinions out online where it's not in anyone's way. I have an opinion on just about everything, and my opinion usually disagrees with the general populace. The disagreement is mainly around the initial assumptions being made. My base belief (and by belief I mean something like principles, not faith) system (usually) revolves around logic, efficiency, and history. Most other people I know have a belief system that is based on what they think a "good" person is, or what "happiness" is, or (in very rare cases) they are egocentric. But I am human, so at times I do ignore those base beliefs and succumb to emotions. As I grow older and gain experience I slowly incorporate my humanity and emotions into my system to eventually come to a full realization of who exactly I am.

Anyway, moving on. My biggest goal in life has always (at least since it mattered) been the attainment of knowledge. Whether it be useful knowledge or not doesn't matter. And if it's entertaining all the better. Books, movies, t.v. shows, video games. For the most part useless knowledge, but I always enjoy getting through the story and learning about the characters. As for useful knowledge, I delve at least a little bit into almost anything. World events, politics, economics, history, science, etc. Not much on art/music, but to me there's not much knowledge in those topics. Just enjoyment if you're into it. I don't really follow sports, but I know a good deal about almost every sport. Being a physics major and having a future career goal of being a professor in physics, I mostly focus on science (and obviously, for the most part on physics).

So that's what this blog will be about. Knowledge I gain and my take on that information. The focus will probably be around science, but during major world or political events it might switch up. Something on a show or book or movie every now and then. Maybe a brief thing on a tennis championship or the world cup.

I enjoy discussions so I insist on readers leaving comments. If it leads to a heated argument, so be it. Obviously if you're passionate about something emotions come into play. That's alright with me and I won't be moderating anything like that. Any spam or something I feel is inappropriate will be removed.

Don't know how often I'll post. I'll try to do so whenever I find something interesting, but I can't promise any consistency on the frequency.

Anyway, that's that. Enjoy.